Underwater lights for divers

Abstract

An LED underwater light, which can be hand-held or mounted on an underwater camera housing, is switchable between two light modes. A first embodiment of the dive light is a focus light, used for initial focusing with a still underwater camera. Incorporated in the focus light is a red light source to which the focus light can be switched from initially projected white light. The switch is used to switch off a series of white LEDs while switching on a series of red LEDs. In another embodiment, the dive light is a flood/spot light, or with another two types of selectable LED arrays, and enables a diver to quickly switch between two types of light projection. Another feature is a laser beam projecting device within the housing, with a momentary switch on the housing to power the laser, as for pointing out underwater objects of interest, the laser beam being projected to the same area as the spot beam.

We claim: 
     
       1. An underwater light for divers, comprising:
 a waterproof housing, 
 a plurality of LEDs mounted in the housing for projection out a front of the housing, including flood LEDs and spot LEDs, 
 driver circuitry in the housing for the flood LEDs and the spot LEDs, arranged to drive the flood LEDs and spot LEDs separately, 
 optics positioned in front of the LEDs to direct light from the flood LEDs as flood light and from the spot LEDs as spot light, 
 a window at the front of the housing through which selected flood or spot LED light can be projected in a forward direction, 
 a power source, 
 a switch on the exterior of the housing, operatively connected to switch on power from the power source to the LEDs and to selectively power the flood LEDs or the spot LEDs, and 
 wherein the switch comprises a slide switch with an exterior manually operated slide member positioned on the exterior of the housing for sliding movement on a switch cover, the slide member being spring-biased toward a rest position, and the housing being water sealed below and independently of the slide member and switch cover, with a magnet connected to the slide member, and the switch including, in an internal sealed space in the housing, magnetic pickups in the circuitry to detect movement of the magnet and to effect power on, power off and selections between flood and spot light. 
 
     
     
       2. The underwater light of  claim 1 , including in the housing a printed circuit board with LED drivers and the magnetic pickups. 
     
     
       3. The underwater light of  claim 1 , wherein the slide switch includes a lockout feature engaged by rotating the manually operated slide member 90° when in the rest position, the lockout feature being effective to prevent unintended switching of the underwater light. 
     
     
       4. The underwater light of  claim 1 , wherein the switch includes selection among multiple light power levels. 
     
     
       5. The underwater light of  claim 1 , wherein the optics include a series of conical reflector holes positioned to be in front of and in the path of light from the LEDS. 
     
     
       6. The underwater light of  claim 5 , further including indicator lights on the exterior of the housing, indicating power level of the white light. 
     
     
       7. The underwater light of  claim 6 , wherein the housing comprises a casing and a front cover comprising a bezel retaining a window, the bezel having screw threads for securing to the casing via threads on the casing. 
     
     
       8. The underwater light of  claim 1 , wherein the flood LEDs have optics producing a divergence angle of about 60°. 
     
     
       9. The underwater light of  claim 1 , wherein the spot LEDs have optics producing a divergence angle of about 8° to 17°, and wherein the spot and flood LEDs are mounted on a single printed circuit board, the spot LEDs being focused by TIR (total internal reflection) lenses whereby both spot and flood LEDs are positioned close to the window at the front of the housing. 
     
     
       10. The underwater light of  claim 1 , further including a laser in the housing positioned to project a visible laser beam within the spot light beam so that the laser produces a laser light spot on an object or field of objects within the position of projected light from the spot light beam. 
     
     
       11. The underwater light of  claim 10 , wherein the laser is positioned in the middle of a cluster of said spot LEDs in the housing. 
     
     
       12. The underwater light of  claim 1 , wherein the housing includes external positive and negative battery charging contacts for receiving a charging device, and further including a shunt circuit within the housing for disconnecting at least one of the external positive and negative charging contacts from the battery except when the battery is being charged, thereby to minimize or prevent corrosion due to electrolysis between the two external contacts. 
     
     
       13. The underwater light of  claim 12 , wherein the shunt circuit includes a clamping device connected between the positive and negative charging contacts. 
     
     
       14. The underwater light of  claim 12 , wherein the shunt circuit includes an actively controlled reverse potential blocking device. 
     
     
       15. The underwater light of  claim 14 , wherein the reverse potential blocking device comprises any of the following: diode, SCR, transistor, BJT, MOSFET. 
     
     
       16. The underwater light of  claim 15 , wherein the shunt circuit further includes a clamping device connected between the positive and negative charging contacts. 
     
     
       17. An underwater light for divers, comprising:
 a waterproof housing, 
 a plurality of LEDs mounted in the housing for projection out a front of the housing, including at least spot LEDs, 
 driver circuitry in the housing for the LEDs, 
 optics positioned in front of the LEDs to direct light from the spot LEDs as a spot light beam, 
 a window at the front of the housing through which the spot light beam can be projected in a forward direction, 
 a laser in the housing positioned to project a visible laser beam within the spot light beam so that the laser produces a laser light spot on an object or field of objects within the position of projected light from the spot beam, 
 a power source, and 
 at least one switch on the exterior of the housing, operatively connected to switch on power from the power source selectively to the spot LEDs or the laser or both. 
 
     
     
       18. The underwater light of  claim 17 , wherein the laser is positioned in the middle of a cluster of said spot LEDs in the housing. 
     
     
       19. The underwater light of  claim 17 , wherein the spot LEDs are mounted on a printed circuit board and focused by TIR lenses in front of the LEDs, so that little depth is required for focusing the spot LEDs, the LEDs being positioned close to the window. 
     
     
       20. The underwater light of  claim 17 , wherein the housing includes external positive and negative battery charging contacts for receiving a charging device, and further including a shunt circuit within the housing for disconnecting at least one of the external positive and negative charging contacts from the battery except when the battery is being charged, thereby to minimize or prevent corrosion due to electrolysis between the two external contacts.